Panel clears Ashcroft for Senate vote

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 31. The nomination of Mr. John Ashcroft as the Attorney-General has gone to the full Senate for a vote. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a vote along largely party lines, cleared his name to be considered for debate and vote in the full Senate. All nine Republicans in the Judiciary Committee voted in favour and were joined by a lone Democrat, Mr. Russ Feingold, of Wisconsin. Eight other Democrats in the panel voted against the President's nominee.

Addressing his Republican colleagues, Mr. Feingold said, ``... I am extending to you at the beginning of this Republican administration an olive branch, but it is not a white flag, I assure you''.

The Senate Majority Leader, Mr. Trent Lott, hopes that a final vote on Mr. Ashcroft will come by Thursday; and the impression is that Mr. Ashcroft will be confirmed as a number of Democrats are expected to go along with the nomination and for different reasons.

But at least 35 Democrats are expected to vote against Mr. Ashcroft, in the process sending a tough message to the White House that future conservative nominees for high profile assignments will have a tough going.

Earlier, during the debate on Mr. Ashcroft's nomination, the speculation was that the Democratic Senator, Mr. Edward Kennedy, will try and mount a filibuster against Mr. Ashcroft, but on Tuesday, he announced that he will not be going through with this procedural delay. The Democratic leadership in the Senate did not go along with the idea and Mr. Kennedy would have needed at least 60 of his colleagues to sustain a filibuster.

If confirmed, Mr. Ashcroft will be the 15th and the last of the nominees of the President to be acted upon by the Senate. While Conservative Republicans and right wing groups were quick to mount a defence of Mr. Ashcroft, Democrats and Liberal groups vehemently opposed the nomination on the ground that the former Governor and Senator from Missouri was totally outside of the mainstream America.

``The job of Attorney-General demands fairness, judgement, tolerance and respect for opposing views. John Ashcroft has shown a pattern of insensitivity throughout his public career'', remarked the Senate Democratic leader, Mr. Tom Daschle.

And a liberal activist group, People for the American Way, took out advertisements in major newspapers in the country against the Attorney-General nominee. ``John Ashcroft says we can trust him to uphold our fundamental constitutional and civil rights. But with all he's done... how can we'', read a part of the advertisement. On Tuesday, the President, Mr. George W. Bush, once again called for a quick vote on the nomination of Mr. Ashcroft. The White House, over the last two weeks, has been given a sense of what is in store in the future if people with credentials of Mr. Ashcroft are sent up for confirmation. In particular, Senate Democrats are sending a message on any potential nominations that can come about for the United States Supreme Court during a Bush administration.

After throwing in the towel rather quickly when another of his nominees, Ms Linda Chavez, ran into trouble, Mr. Bush made the decision to stay with Mr. Ashcroft for the nation's top law enforcement job. To the Democrats, the President was saying that he needed to have his conservative team, but the real question is whether the right wing of his own party will be satisfied with only Mr. Ashcroft.

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